1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to broadcast television systems and more particularly to a system and method for delivering and selecting advertising.
2. Description of Related Art
Broadcast television systems convey television programming to homes throughout the world. In addition to television programs, broadcasters also convey advertisements and other promotions. Typically, network providers convey programs and advertising to local broadcasters who in turn convey the programs and advertising to a local television audience. In some cases, network providers make a certain amount of time available to the local broadcaster for local advertising. These time slots made available by the network to the local broadcaster are sometimes referred to as “avails”. The local broadcaster may then sell this time to advertisers who wish to promote their products or services to the local television viewing audience. Generally, the local broadcaster detects an avail in the network broadcast signal via a tone cue and may then insert their local advertisement in the programming signal which is broadcast to the local audience. If the local advertiser does not sell or give an avail to an alternate advertiser, the advertisement conveyed by the network is broadcast to the local audience.
Interactive television systems provide a means to deliver interactive content as well as ordinary television audio and video to a large number of subscribers. Programs broadcast by these systems may incorporate television audio and video, still images, text, interactive graphics and applications, and many other components. The interactive content of the interactive television signal may therefore include application code, data associated with the audio and video, control signals, raw data and many other types of information. Both the interactive content and the audio and video data are delivered to subscribers as “pushed” data. That is, the data is delivered to each of the subscribers, regardless of whether or not the subscribers requested the data.
Interactive content such as application code or information relating to television programs is usually broadcast in a repeating format. In other words, each piece of information is broadcast a first time, then each is transmitted a second time, and so on. The cycle is repeated so that each piece of interactive data is transmitted, for example, every ten seconds. The pieces of information which are broadcast in this manner form what is referred to as a “carousel.” Frequently, a single carousel is transported as a contiguous data stream. However, it is also possible to multiplex two or more carousels in a single data stream.
Broadcast systems (e.g., interactive television systems) transmit information in a carousel format in order to allow receivers in the system to selectively obtain particular pieces of information in the carousel without requiring a return path from the receivers to the server. If a particular receiver needs a particular piece of information, it can simply wait until next time that piece of information is broadcast, and then extract the information from the broadcast data stream. Other receivers in the system can operate in the same manner, each receiver waiting for the information it needs, and then using only that information. By employing carousels to broadcast information, the system eliminates the need to connect each of the receivers with the server and further eliminates the need for the server to process individual requests for information. Generally, a broadcast signal may include a number of programs which in turn may include a number of audio/video streams and/or data streams. Data streams may be used to carry data such as interactive application data, subtitle information, or other data.
The pieces of information, or data objects, in a carousel may be intended to be combined in a single object data stream to form a program. This program may also contain streaming data such as audio or video. For example, an interactive television game show may combine television audio and video with interactive content such as application code which allows users to answer questions. Another example would be a news program which combines audio and video with application code that inserts current stock prices in a banner at the bottom of the screen. (It should be noted that many types of programs are possible, and it is not necessary to include either audio, video or interactive content any particular program. A program might contain only audio and interactive data (e.g., an interactive radio program,) or it might contain only interactive data (e.g., an interactive weather program that does not contain audio or video streams.) Typically, each program is associated with a corresponding channel and, when a channel containing a particular program is selected by the interactive television receiver, the data which is being broadcast on that channel is downloaded and the program is started.
As discussed above, advertising is also conveyed to the television viewing audience with avails provided by the network to the local broadcaster. Avails which are unused by the local broadcaster may simply convey the network provided advertisements. Consequently, unused avails may be a source of lost revenue for the local broadcaster. Further, because avails begin at a specific time and have a specific duration, the system of providing avails to local broadcasters who then insert local advertising requires very strict timing. Consequently, the people and/or equipment required to adhere to these strict timing requirements may be very costly. In addition, in an interactive television environment, viewers may interact with ads or promotions at times which may not correspond to the predetermined timing of the avails. Consequently, advertisers are not able to effectively provide ads to viewers on an interactive basis.
Additional complications arise when advertising in the context of interactive television. Frequently, an application provider creates an application which includes a number of viewable pages. If desired, the provider may create “slots” within a page, or pages, which is designed to accommodate an advertisement. Typically, an agreement is made between the application provider and an advertiser to include a particular ad banner in a slot on a particular page of the application. Further, some means of ensuring that particular ads have been run and providing that information to the advertiser is necessary in order to properly manage the financial accounting associated with the agreement. Because an application provider may have a number of such agreements for each application, managing the advertising aspects of an application and their corresponding agreements can quickly become unduly cumbersome. Further, when a viewer uses the same application repeatedly, the same banner ad is seen over and over. In addition to these problems, an efficient method of accounting for which ads have been run and conveying that accounting information to the advertiser is needed.